Voice Care for Coaches and Speakers

As a coach and speaker, you rely heavily on a healthy voice for your
business. In addition, if you give teleclasses, workshops, do speaking
engagements, voice maintenance needs a higher priority in your self-care
program.

Imagine your voice as a rare Stradivarius violin. If you were going to play
the Stradivarius in a concert the next day -- same as having a speaking
engagement or a full day of coaching the next day -- you wouldn't expose the
Stradivarius to a night in a smoke filled room or pour alcohol all over it and
expect it not to suffer from the abuse the next day.

Okay this metaphor is a little stretch but you get the point I'm sure.

Many people think antibiotics help viral infections or laryngitis -- a common
after effect from a viral infection caused from a cold or flu. Recently, I
suffered with the flu with a severe case of laryngitis. I had to cancel a
teleclass, lose hours of phone coaching, and a paid speaking engagement. Ouch!
The more I self-treated through media knowledge or recommendations, the worse
the laryngitis got.

It took over 20 days before I improved and then two weeks later, the
laryngitis returned. After all this, I finally visited my ear, nose, and throat
specialist, only to learn that everything I was trying was actually contributing
the extended suffering.

This is why I'm writing this article, so you don't suffer as I did. Let me
pass the tips I learned along this journey. Some of them may be a surprise.

Food and Beverages

Warm or hot beverages work best. Cold beverages with ice produce the voice
center to spasm generating more coughing and longer lasting laryngitis. It's
best to stick to drinking room temperature water.

Black Currant Pastilles, which are glycerin-containing lozenges for adults,
keeps the throat moist. Pastilles are especially great to take before, during,
and after flying or traveling from one temperature extreme to another, say New
York to Florida in winter. It's best to have ample on hand since they can be
difficult to find on the road. Many professional singers use Black Currant
Pastilles 24 hours before their performance.

Avoid anything with mint or menthol in it. Throat Coat. Tea, designed
specifically for voice professionals, is better than Pastilles. The tea contains
licorice root, which is widely used to enhance throat and upper respiratory
tract health.

Any beverage that affects your stomachs acid level, like caffeine, will also
affect your vocal cords. Caffeine is a mild diuretic and dries the throat and
vocal cords. Coffee, including decaf, due to its natural oils causes acidic
results that cause vocal damage. This includes chocolate. If you suffer from
acid reflux disease, you need to take extra care of your voice since acid reflux
causes permanent damage to vocal cords. Sodas also cause acid reflux and damages
vocal cords.

Up until six years ago, I drank diet coke and suffered from acid reflux.
About three weeks after going cold turkey from diet coke I had no more acid
reflux problems and haven't since.

With a cold or flu, we usually drink orange juice. This acidic beverage
actually prolongs laryngitis.

One of my favorites is to add lemon to my water. After thinking about it,
lemon is an acid. By itself, it doesn't help. However, if you add the lemon in
warm water with a small amount of honey it smoothes the vocal cords.

Hmm, I wonder if warm orange juice and honey would work.

Guess what, nope, tried it. It takes terrible.

Dairy increases throat mucus for some people. If after you drink milk, your
thought feels heavier with mucus, you may have a mild milk allergy. Milk in your
case will affect your vocal health and can lengthen your laryngitis episode.
Nuts can have this same allergy affect.

Common Causes of Voice Strain

You probably already know that shouting, screaming, and excessive talking
strains voice cords. But, did you know that whispering, coughing, loud sneezing,
crying, laughing, and throat clearing could do the same damage?

Emotional or environmental stress causes voice strain as well. Especially
major changes like separation/ divorce, new job, kids going off to college,
grieving, not enough sleep, moving, and even hormonal changes in adolescents or
maturing adults. If you are going through any stressful times, you will need to
take special care not to bruise your throat center or vocal cords.

The surprise to these stresses is the damage doesn't show it's physically
appearance until three days after the major stress occurs.

The stress could even be a special project at work. You work at a higher pace
or longer hours, then the project is completed, and three days later, you feel
terrible. Take special note of this and change your work habits so it doesn't
happen.

One client of mine had this consistently over five years. She'd worked hard
at her job, the project would end, and she'd take off on vacation and be sick
for most of the time while on vacation.

Voice Maintenance

When experiencing laryngitis, limit unnecessary talking, and pause frequently
to swallow and remoisten your throat, even during speaking engagements.

Relaxation techniques, like yoga always help, yet conscious aware of your
posture and breathing during speaking can save further bruising the vocal cords
especially if your voice is weak from a cold.

One of my favorite exercises I do every morning or while driving to a
speaking engagement is a vowel review. Stretch your neck comfortable upwards and
recite the vowels -- a, e, i, o, u -- slowly. Long gate the sound and let the
vowel trail off, especially with the u.

If you smoke or visit smoke-filled rooms, triple your maintenance plan, smoke
is very damaging.

If you lose your voice, you will have to give it a rest over the next four to
seven days. You will need to limit using your voice to 15 minutes a day. I
learned there's a bright side to this; my listening skills improved. Keep phone
calls brief; avoid all non-speech voice use, including throat clearing,
coughing, sneezing, or any odd sound effects.

If you snore, this doubles the stress on your vocal cords. Keep water next to
you and drink during the night to keep the cords moist.

Over-the-Counter Solutions

Even though they give immediate feeling relief, throat sprays, and medicated
lozenges actually dry the vocal cords and extend the recovery period. If go this
route because it's an emergency, you must use with extreme care. Herbs can cause
side effects. You will want to discuss their use with your doctor or herb
practitioner before you have a problem. There are some herbs that help and some
that harm. Herbs like barberry reduce inflammation and infection caused from
respiratory infections, but can cause an allergic reaction especially if already
using another remedy.

Adding garlic and ginger to your foods reduces cold symptoms including sore
throat you don't need any professional advice before using.

Support Team

Since your voice is vital to your income, you will want to have on your team
an ear, nose, and throat physician who is familiar with your medical history and
works frequently with singers. With an ongoing relationship, it's easier for
them to provide advice especially when you are out of the area.

Last year, while experiencing a mild case of laryngitis, I saw my doctor
before I left for a speaking engagement. I forgot to mention I was traveling to
a higher elevation. By the time I checked in at the hotel, I was in bad shape.
An emergency call to her and I was equipped with new instructions and a fast
acting prescription. The next morning I was able to perform normally.

Here's a special note: Taxis in almost all cities will pick up and deliver
called-in prescriptions generally at the same rate as a cab ride.